Ben Chaplin, Michael Palin In The Trenches For ‘The Wipers Times’

BBC Two has commissioned the feature-length The Wipers Times with My Week With Marilyn‘s David Parfitt producing. Based on the true story of the creation of a satirical magazine that was published in the trenches during World War I, the film stars Ben Chaplin as Captain Fred Roberts who discovered a printing press in the ruins of Ypres, Belgium in 1916 and began publishing the blackly comic Wipers Times for troops on the Western Front. Principal photography has begun in Northern Ireland with Monty Python’s Michael Palin, Julian Rhind-Tutt (The Hour), Steve Oram (Sightseers) and Emilia Fox (Silent Witness) also starring. The Trademark Films production is directed by Andy de Emmony and written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman. Exec producers are Ivan Mactaggart and Martin Davidson. The movie, to be delivered this summer, does not yet have a UK air date and Trademark tells me producers are hoping for some theatrical play outside the territory. Content Media will start sales in Toronto, once the film is complete. BBC, Northern Ireland Screen Fund, Goldcrest Films and Content are financing.